BASEBALL: SUBWAY SERIES

By BUSTER OLNEY

Published: October 23, 2000

Roger Clemens threw fastballs that reached 99 miles an hour, but drew even more attention for firing a broken bat in the direction of the Mets' Mike Piazza last night, pitching eight shutout innings and heightening the emotions of the Subway Series that is being controlled by the Yankees.

Facing Piazza for the first time since hitting the Mets catcher in the head with a fastball in July, Clemens sparked an astonishing bench-clearing incident in the first inning by hurling the broken bat. But Clemens retreated to a private room in the clubhouse, refocused and continued his recent postseason domination, allowing only two hits and striking out nine in a 6-5 victory over the Mets in Game 2 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium. The Mets rallied to score all their runs in the last inning, but now the Yankees have won when facing the Mets' two best pitchers -- Al Leiter was their Game 1 starter -- and lead the four-of-seven-game Series by two victories to none, extending their record streak of World Series victories to 14.

The Mets are in serious trouble, and will try to regain their footing in Game 3 at Shea Stadium tomorrow night, when Rick Reed will pitch against the Yankees' Orlando Hernandez, who is unbeaten in postseason play. The Mets must win four of the next five games against the Yankees, who have won six of their last seven games.

Clemens shut out Seattle on one hit in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series nine days ago, and in his last two games, opposing hitters are 3 for 55 (.055) against Clemens, with 24 strikeouts.

But Clemens and his manager, Joe Torre, became animated when questioned after the game about Clemens's intent when he threw the bat at Piazza. ''There was no intent there,'' Clemens said repeatedly.

Torre said: ''It was just emotional. Should he have done it? No.''

Clemens's beaning of Piazza three and a half months ago has hovered over this Series, and although Torre has accused the news media of reopening the wound in the last week, the Mets' hostility toward Clemens has never really dissipated. Everything Clemens did last night would be seen by the Mets through the prism of that incident in July.

Some of the Yankees had been concerned about Clemens's mood after a week in which the beaning was revisited time and again, and some of them tried to pump him up during the day. Clemens wore linebacker's eyes to the mound. He wears a mouthpiece when he pitches, and his lower jaw was locked, his chin pushed forward, except when he cursed, either at himself or the batter, or at no one in particular.

Timo Perez faked a bunt on Clemens's first pitch and Clemens breathed two words, one syllable apiece, verbal aggression. He shook his head between pitches, talked aloud, his inner frenzy and his fastball both gaining speed. He struck out Perez with fastballs, all of them 97 m.p.h., and twice he threw 98-m.p.h. fastballs to Edgardo Alfonzo, before finishing off the second baseman with a 94-m.p.h. splitter -- a stunning speed for that diving pitch.

Piazza was announced as the next hitter and the crowd of 56,059 roared, the culmination of 106 days of anticipation for the first confrontation between the two men since Clemens beaned Piazza on July 8. The pitcher pumped two fastballs for strikes. Then, after throwing a ball out of the strike zone, Clemens fired inside, shattering Piazza's bat into at least three pieces.

The ball went foul and the barrel of the bat bounced toward Clemens, who fielded it as he would a grounder, then turned and fired the fragment sidearm toward Piazza, the bat head skimming and skittering along the ground just in front of Piazza.

Piazza was stunned, and he turned and stared at Clemens, moving toward the pitcher, turning the bat handle in his hand, stepping across the base line. The Mets coaching staff and players immediately rushed from their dugout. Clemens held his hand up, as if to ask the umpire for a new ball, but then came face to face with Piazza, appearing to tell Piazza that he thought the barrel was the ball.

Piazza said in July that he had lost respect for Clemens, and having just seen a bat go flying across his path, Piazza was stunned. He shouted at Clemens, asking him what his problem was. Then the Mets' bench coach, John Stearns -- who had tried to confront Clemens the day after the beaning -- bulled his way toward the pitcher, screaming. The two hordes of Yankees and Mets were bunched together, some pushing, the group turning slowly, like a satellite image of a hurricane.

Torre grabbed Stearns, who used to play for him, and tried to calm him down, and gradually, as Clemens and Piazza were separated, the situation came under control without punches. But in his moment of anger or mania, Clemens heated those simmering emotions back to a full boil, by throwing a bat head and not a baseball. It felt surreal. After Piazza grounded out to second, the crowd was still murmuring while Clemens stopped and talked to the plate umpire, Charlie Reliford, explaining his actions.